The Carmelites were an unique religious Order: the only contemplative Order to owe their foundation entirely to the Crusader States. They were formed in the early thirteenth century from a group of solitaries and hermits who had gathered for safety on Mt Camel, near the new capital of the kingdom of Jerusalem at Acre, and absorbed into a new community by Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem. Their aim was the pursuit of a penitent life in a small regulated community in a fixed location without the burden of property ownership. By the middle of the thirteenth century, however, they had made the transition to being mendicants, and although Mt Carmel remained the spiritual heart of the Order, they had founded houses in the West as well. This chapter examines the origins of the community and the process of transition, situating the Carmelites alongside other models of reform in the Crusader States.